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This story began 40 years ago in Miami, Florida. We met as sophmores in a historical
geology class and, as Glenn likes to say, grew to be old fossils together. In the time in between we had four children, five
grandchildren, a business owned for 30 years for Glenn and a career in preparing corporate income tax, still going after 29
years, for Janice. Along the way a dream slowly began to develop. We loved to travel, we had lived near the ocean
our entire marriage and we loved adventure. What better way to bring all of those pieces together than cruising?
We went to boat shows, took navigation classes, chartered a boat, sailed with friends, stopped acquiring "things"
and for five years worked towards our goal. The children all moved out, the business was sold and a deal was struck
with Janice's boss to work six months and take off six months.
One day we came home from
work, checked the internet once again and found THE BOAT. We were on a plane by 6:00 that night headed for Hilton Head,
SC. There she was, the boat we had been searching for. She was a 1992 Fontaine Pajot Antigua, 37 feet long
and in good shape. We knew within an hour that this was the boat we wanted.
Six weeks
later we stepped on board our boat and began the journey. The first step, the voyage to her new home in Florida.
The second step would be to outfit her to our liking. Where would the following steps take us?
Our Boating History
Our very first boat was a 10 foot Sears rubber raft with a 5 HP motor. We actually went 7 miles offshore in it
at Pennekamp in Key Largo, FL. Our next boat was a 20 foot Wellcraft, a boat we could put our children in. We
loved going fishing and snorkeling with this boat and soon had a 100 gallon saltwater aquarium. We would take our kids
to the Keys, give them a snorkle and a boat cushion for flotation and capture our own saltwater fish. Our next boat,
our favorite, was a 30 foot Scarab Sport with twin 200 HP outboards. This was fun! We would go to the Bahamas
in three hours. We named her Insatiable, because we just couldn't get enough of boating. Our lives got busier,
our children became teenagers (not wanting to be with us) so we sold Insatiable. After a few years of not having a boat
at all we got a 15 foot Avon with a 25 HP motor. We enjoyed several years on this boat even taking it to our cabin in
North Carolina and going on the lakes. Glenn was the first to get the sailing bug. We had never even sailed but
it seemed the only practical way to do any long distance cruising. I went along just to keep him happy figuring this
was just another phase and it would pass. Why should I be the bad guy and kill the dream? It would just fade away
on its own.
The boating experience we acquired during the serious portion of our dream included chartering a catamaran and taking
three of our children and one grandchild to the Berry Islands in the Bahamas. I still remember my racing heart and Glenn's
nervous look as we had to turn around and back in to the dock when we brought the boat back. It's the landings
that are rough.
We were also lucky enough to have two sets of friends with sailboats. We had the luck to make a
couple of sails to the Bahamas. The pivotal point was a trip we took from Bermuda to Newport, Rhode Island. This
was the trip that would tell me if I could sail the distance. Instead I was helicoptered in to Cape Cod from 200 miles
offshore with a perforated appendix. Rather than discouraging me, this made me want to move on with our dream even
more. Live now while you have your health. The story of this trip can be seen on Storm Stories and I wrote an
article about it that was published in Multihull magazine in January 2005.
It seems that we had been building towards this dream for years with our boating experiences and didn't even
know it.
We have four children, two boys and two girls - Duane, (Germaine) Catherine, Glenn III
and Janine. We also have a daughter-in-law, Roberta, and three grandchildren - Jeremy, Kayleigh and Jarod. That's
it for now but we're hoping for more.
And my wish came true. We learned in April 2007 that our daughter,
Janine, is pregnant. May 4th our family grew to include Catherine's husband, David, and his son D.L. At the end
of May we received the news that Janine is going to have a boy. We are so blessed. October 24th, and Hugh Thomas
Michael has arrived. A head full of hair and he is beautiful. Now, it
is November 2008 and we are waiting for Sean Michael Ferguson to arrive. Parents, Catherine and David, along with brothers
Jarod and DL just can't wait! And the wait is over. Janice was there
for the birth on November 24th. What a wonderful experience. Certainly much nicer than my own experiences.
It's so much more pleasant to just watch. 2010 We
have made a few changes in our life. We sold our house in Florida in August 2009. We have lived in Florida for
most of our lives and we have made the big move and bought a house in Wilmington, NC. We have always loved NC and our
son, Glenn, lives here in Wilmington with our daughter, Janine, only four hours away in Charlotte. We fell in love with
our new house and bought it and moved in within three weeks of arriving in Wilmington. It has a huge pond in the front
with a view of the intercoastal beyond it. We can canoe to Masonboro Island and camp on it right across the intercoastal.
It has passive solar heating and cooling, three bedrooms and three baths, a jacuzzi bath in the master bathroom, two skylights
and gorgeous views every where we look. It's on .81 acres with a wooded area and bamboo forest in the back yard.
Our NC family consisting of Glenn, Janine, Hugh and Tom helped us paint the inside. They brought us into the modern
times. Gone are the off white or pale colors you could hardly tell what they were. Glenn helped choose the colors
and tell us which walls had which colors. There are at least two colors in each room with three in our bedroom.
I love it! We are currently living with our very generous son and daughter-in-law
- Duane and Roberta working in Florida for the next three months. We miss our new house but it is great to visit our
four Florida grandchildren. We will be back to it in April and then on to Greece in May.
| Happy happy happy |
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| New owners |
| Our view of the intercoastal from our new house |
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| Our new house |
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| The view from our front porch |
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